Honorary Graduates
Orations and responses
Response by Lord Slynn of Hadley
Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor. Graduation Day is always enjoyable,
even as a non-participant, as an observer, it is impossible not to feel the
relief and satisfaction of those newly graduating, particularly when they
have moved on to higher degrees. I never felt I had the degree of
application necessary to do a PhD myself, but I am tempted to sign up for a
PhD in Robotics next year - whatever Robotics is! I add my
congratulations to those who have graduated today. I also have a
personal word of thanks to them. Although I didn’t feel anonymous,
anachronistic or plainly out-of-date, I thank them for not having appealed
to the Visitor during their period at the University of Essex. We had
quite enough without any others coming. But today is not just the day
for the graduates. It is a day also for parents and friends, who as
the Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor said, have given such support and
encouragement, perhaps made sacrifices to make today possible. I hope
that they will enjoy their day in the precincts of the University as much as
I shall. I remember my first visit here many years ago and I was
struck by the warmth and friendliness of everybody. No greeting could
have been warmer than that of the ducks and the geese on the pond as one
wandered round, and I am sure that you will find the same thing.
But it is also a day for the Faculty, who must feel great pride in the
achievements of those they have brought to these postgraduate degrees. But
at this Graduation Day, I am not merely an observer. I too, unexamined,
untested by papers or vivas, am a new Graduate of Essex University and I am
gratefully privileged to become a Doctor of the University. I thank you My
Lord and Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor on behalf of the Senate of the
University, for the honour you have bestowed upon me and I thank particularly
the Public Orator for his very generous introduction of me.
Chancellor, universities have gone through periods of great change and
development since you and I received our Batchelors’ hoods. I don’t think
either of us got any further than a Batchelor’s hood. Some of these
changes have been controversial but one development can only bring good.
Even in medieval days, teachers and writers moved around the universities of
Europe, from Bologna to Prague, to Paris to Oxbridge. But today it is not
just the Faculty and the professional scholars who move, it is also the
students. Vacation courses in all directions are common. In the
summer I sometimes think there are more American students in the United Kingdom
than there are British students. Thousands come to our courses here
full-time and part-time and not just from the English speaking world, but from
everywhere and I have been delighted to notice the number of students on the
campus today who appear to have come from Malaysia or Indonesia. There are
some 13,000 students from Taiwan in this country and this is all-important to
develop international standards and principles and to deepen the understanding
of the students.
I only mention this as an introduction to my one point (I think that speeches
are usually better if they only have one point!) My one point is that
Essex has participated in this process in a remarkable way, a process in which I
have been very content to take part. It is a process which is not well
known outside of this University, and it ought to be well known. Eight
universities of European Community countries combine together in a splendid and
imaginative experiment that has become an important reality. They provided
a course for a Masters Degree in European Business Law. Students come from
everywhere in and out of the Community, including substantial numbers from the
countries of Central and Eastern Europe which are about to join the Community.
The significant feature is that the participating universities provided the
Faculty who come to Nijmegen in the Netherlands to this new university course to
teach. These universities provided the members of the governing and
advisory boards of this new course known as Pallas Consortium. The
standards are high, the students enthusiastic and some of us who think that we
should move to creating a truly European university covering a wide range of
disciplines, see this as a first step. There are other, of course,
excellent specialised colleges throughout Europe, but Pallas Consortium, this
experiment in Nijmegen, is the first step towards a real European graduate
programme, involving in particular the participation of the member universities.
Essex, as the only participating British university, has been one of the
leaders. Professor Sheldon Leader and Mrs Ann Woodings of this University,
in particular, have made a great contribution to the work and to the success of
the project and as a member of the Advisory Board I really do congratulate you
on your role in it.
The University should be proud of what has been done. People are always
mistrustful of things that begin with lawyers but I suggest that this particular
project should inspire the faculties of other disciplines to similar projects –
in languages, in the humanities, in the social, and perhaps even in the physical
sciences. But I am very grateful to them in the Law Faculty here for what they
have done. Mrs Woodings produced the description of the course as the
“Bridge to a European Legal Career”. That is very accurate, but the
experience of the student is more than merely a bridge to a career. It is
the bridge to an awareness and a feeling for the sort of Europe that many may
wish for, whatever they think about the Euro and the pound. Those who have
participated from Essex have made a major contribution.
Chancellor, I am very touched and very grateful for the honour that you have
done me today.